On the way to a new mobility.
VW-Nutzfahrzeuge, Continental and Forvia are important players involved in creating a new mobility worldwide. They are based in the Region Hannover. Continental has even been here since 1871. Thousands of jobs depend on the companies and their acumen, their innovative capacity and ultimately their successful business.
Skilled craftsmen and travellers have one thing in common: they like visiting the website of Volkswagen Nutzfahrzeuge, where it is so easy to configure the new vehicle of their dreams. Examples include the dazzling new electric ID.Buzz or ID.Buzz Cargo produced with zero emissions. It takes no more than a few clicks to order a Caravelle, Caddy and California or even a Crafter. Production in the VW factory in Stöcken began in 1956, with the one millionth Transporter leaving the production line already in 1961. The legendary T1, the company’s top seller alongside the VW Beetle, was known all over the world as a “bit of Hannover”. Right up to the T7, the current Transporter, all the models were made here, together with the Cargo e-Bike as well since 2019. The cargo bike has a pedelec drive. That already shows where the journey’s going: more electric drive, sustainable supply chains, more green power in the factory and a constant fight for sales markets. Around nine million VW Transporters have been made here since 1956. More than 100,000 California motor-homes were produced in the Limmer factory, yet another top seller in a category of its own.
About 13,000 employees currently work in the VW factory in Hannover, making it the largest employer in the region. Although the city administration with its workforce of 11,000 comes a close second, VW still safeguards a large share of the city’s tax revenue. It contributes 60 percent to value added in Hannover.
Continental restructured
There are more focal aspects involved in the car industry in the Region Hannover, such as the production of tyres and brakes, battery technology and driver information systems. Continental AG is the largest supplier company, with its new headquarters on Messeschnellweg (Pferdeturm) in Hannover. Once again, the global player has just been declared “Manufacturer of the Year” for tyre production in 2022. Rubber has been the material of choice here since 1869 (natural caoutchouc to start with). Automotive Technologies have meanwhile gained the upper hand, with driver assist systems and autonomous driving. Continental has a global workforce of about 240,000 employees at 540 sites in roughly 60 countries. It is all controlled from Hannover. 45 billion Euro turnover is an impressive ball-park figure, with Continental coming second only to VW in terms of value added for the Region Hannover.
“Conti”, as the locals call it, was founded 1871 on Vahrenwalder Straße as “Continental-Caoutchuc- u. Guttapercha-Compagnie AG“. As from 1876, Siegmund Seligmann joined the company management and was soon seen as one of Germany’s greatest business leaders. Born in 1853 in Verden/Aller, the experienced businessman took the tyre company to international standing. The elegant mansion that he had built from 1905 on Hohenzollernstraße on the edge of the Eilenriede forest in the List district was donated to the city of Hannover by his family in 1931. Since 2008, it has been home to the European Centre for Jewish Music. Today, Villa Seligmann is an anchor of Jewish life.
“Conti” continues to grow and is constantly confronted with new challenges, with climate change as the latest example. In 2022, the company adopted a programme of immediate action for climate protection called “Net/Zero/Now”, focusing on emission-free vehicles from electric cars via buses with hydrogen drive to trams. But there is also more at stake: eliminating the carbon footprint of Continental’s product. In purely arithmetical terms, the manufacturing process for every product in the company’s supply chain should not trigger more emissions than can be compensated for by reforestation. To this end, the company works with partners capable of restoring eco-systems with certification to international standards. Due consideration is also given to social aspects. Continental wants to be climate-neutral by 2040, extending this to the whole value-added chain by 2050. This is ambitious, but it also shows what it takes to stay among the international frontrunners.
Tiny houses and new foil diversity
category of establishing a clever, environmentally-friendly image also includes the new Contihomes. Contihomes are tiny houses measuring 12.4 metres in length that fit on a truck trailer. These little houses measuring just 30 square meters are a global trend. At Continental, they developed from the foil unit of the company’s surface know-how division, which deals primarily with vehicle interiors such as steering wheels, seat covers or the cockpit itself. But now Continental is also aiming at the furniture and construction industry. Other sales markets could also include cruise ships and hotel interiors. Here the company is still in the early stages. Insiders give confirmation of new products such as translucent foils for neon signs, 3D foils or foils that don’t absorb fingerprints. Foils are even now being used as loudspeaker membranes.
In Marienwerder, Forvia is looking for other high-tech firms.
Back to cars. New arrival Forvia Deutschland has just settled in the Science Area Hannover-Marienwerder. The takeover of the Westphalian lighting specialist Hella by the French car supplier firm Faurecia was completed in February 2022. Since then, the company has been operating as Forvia. The German headquarters had previously been in Stadthagen, but the company is now seeking closer contact with other high-tech companies in Marienwerder. The focus will be on the cockpit of the future, new seats, door panels, centre consoles, dashboards and sustainable mobility (with hydrogen). 150,000 employees work for the company at 266 sites around the world, including 20 in Germany. “We are motivated to support local projects, programmes and initiatives with our expertise and resources”, says the company about itself. “Companies must have a positive influence on society”, is its conviction. It is now the world’s seventh largest automotive supplier.
These three companies put the Region Hannover right up on the global front line in terms of mobility mindset. It practically originates here, with buzzwords such as automated driving, infotainment on the move, artificial intelligence, sustainability and climate protection, safety technologies, mobility services, intelligent transport systems, connectivity, lightweight construction and interior design, data security and data protection. Each on its own a huge future topic. Dealing with all of them together demands endurance, skill and business acumen. With their size and their large share of jobs here in the region, VW, Continental and Forvia have an important contribution to make.
Gardening robots and old PET bottles in new tyr
As far as Continental AG is concerned, you could say the future is being created at the company’s new headquarters, on the other side of the Eilenriede forest with the Villa Seligmann. The global player has just revealed that it is now going to start mass production of autonomous mobile robots. Intralogistics robots for the gardening sector are being developed together with a Dutch/Belgian company. In future, monotonous work in greenhouses should be performed by robots. Similar robots are naturally also conceivable in many other areas of logistics.
As far as tyres are concerned, in June 2022 the company also raced ahead of the competition by announcing that all dealers in Europe can now sell Continental tyres containing polyester from recycled PET bottles. The polyester thread is recovered from used bottles and incorporated in the tyre carcasses without any interim chemical stages. A set of standard tyres needs about 40 bottles. Continental emphasises that the bottles only come from regions without a closed-loop recycling system, so that the whole issue is viewed on a global scale. ContiRe.Tex Technology should be a milestone. May many more follow.
Header picture: Volkswagen AG
